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Tier two cities attract attention

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE: With the IT hub Bangalore facing problems like infrastructure issues, rising wages and high attrition due to explosive growth of the industry, the State government is wooing investment into secondary cities like Mysore, Mangalore, Manipal, Hubli, Dharwar and Gulbarga.

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During BangaloreIT.in, a conference was based on the theme "Beyond Bangalore" that looked at companies that successfully set up operations in tier-two cities and looked at the advantages and pitfalls of selecting a tier-two city.

Tanveer Sait, minister for labor, Government of Karnataka, said that most of the tier-two cities except Gulbarga had an airport. "Many companies like Infosys, Wipro, MphasiS and IBM have already set up operations in Mysore. We are making sure there is adequate connectivity in all these cities."

BS Patil, president of BIC, a private-public partnership society said that the Hubli-Dharwar region was emerging as an attractive destination for BPO companies. "MphasiS is seriously considering a proposal to set up a facility in Hubli."

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Among the various cities, Mysore is emerging as the most popular option owing to its proximity to Bangalore. Sid Mukherji, director, Software Paradigms India (SPI), a software applications company traced his company's successful growth in Mysore. While software export figures and the ecosystem were undeniably the best in Bangalore, he cited factors such as reduced commute time, low rents, low pollution levels and better quality of life in Mysore's favor. "Companies should look beyond a brand when they are thinking of making multi-million dollar investments," he said.

Kurian James, CEO, Manipal Informatics, a BPO based in Manipal said that Karnataka is ideal for BPO companies since Karnataka accents are the easiest to neutralize among South Indian accents. He added that educational institutes had to have programs to make sure students are industry-ready.

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